At an out-of-pocket cost around $6 a pill (about $2,000 a year), Plavix is a pricey drug. But that’s peanuts compared to the $409,500 price tag for a year’s worth of Soliris, a drug used to treat a rare blood disease known as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Forbes magazine has called Soliris the world’s most expensive drug.

The post raises questions about how much is too much when it comes to drug costs. If one of these drugs is keeping you or a family member alive, the sky’s the limit. If not, the cost can seem excessive.

In the best of all possible worlds, these and other expensive but necessary drugs and devices would be free to the folks who need them. That would, of course, shift the cost to society as a whole. It also doesn’t factor in the enormous expense of developing and making new drugs. Without a return on that investment, drug companies have no incentive to develop new life-saving medications.

Do you think there should be a cap on what a company can charge for a drug?